It was a bitter loss for the Padres, who battled back from a 6-2 deficit to take a 7-6 lead with a five-run seventh that included the first grand slam homer of Jesus Guzman’s career and a later go-ahead, bases-loaded walk drawn by Carlos Quentin.

Afterwards, Guzman appeared almost in tears as he discussed his slam.

“We lost the game, we didn’t win,” he said. “It was an exciting moment for me, but we lost.”

The Padres lost when Longoria launched a hanging slider from Street far beyond the fence in left center.

Seven pitches earlier, the Padres came within an inch of walking away with the 7-6 win.

Street had two outs and a 2-and-2 count on Ben Zobrist, who had been badly fooled by several sliders from the Padres closer. Street threw a fastball that Zobrist barely tipped – the ball coming straight back at Padres catcher Nick Hundley.

Game over if the ball hits the sweet spot in Hundley’s glove. But the foul caught the palm of the glove, hung there and fell to the ground for a foul that kept the game alive. Another foul and two balls later found Zobrist at first with a walk and Longoria at the plate.

The rest is recorded history. Longoria’s drive was measured at 418 feet – marking the fifth time in his career that he hit a walk-off homer. The homer was the third baseman’s ninth since April 15.

“If Zobrist’s foul hits me an inch more into the glove (to his right), it’s over,” said Hundley.

“Can’t walk that guy,” Street said of Zobrist. “I’m frustrated about that walk as much as I am about leaving the pitcher over the middle of the plate. It’s a game I wanted to win, that we all wanted to win because of the way we came back. It’s just frustrating for me to make that pitch, but you gotta move on.”

As for the slider that Longoria hit, Hundley said it was the only mistake Street made in the ninth.

“He hung a slider to Longoria, that’s the fate of a closer,” Padres manager Bud Black said of Street’s first blown save of the season.

Until that instant, it appeared the Padres had pulled the game out with their five-run seventh that overcame a disastrous major league debut by Padres starter Burch Smith, who allowed six runs without retiring a Rays hitter in the second inning.

The Padres trailed 6-2 entering the top of the seventh and Rays starter Jeremy Hellickson had retired 16 straight when he issued the first of two walks Quentin would draw in the inning.

A one-out single by Mark Kotsay and a two-out infield single by Alexi Amarista, who made a diving catch on the warning track in center in the sixth to save at least one run, set the stage for Guzman.

Guzman, who was 2-for-13 as a pinch-hitter this season, sent a full-count offering from Hellickson into the seats down the line in left for the Padres first pinch-hit grand slam since Josh Barfield connected against the Giants on Aug. 17, 2006.

The Padres first road pinch-hit grand slam since Melvin Nieves connected at Shea Stadium in 1995 tied the score at 6-6.

Jamey Wright replaced Hellickson and watched as second baseman Zobrist mishandled Everth Cabrera’s grounder for an error. Wright then hit Will Venable with a pitch before issuing back-to-back walks to Chase Headley and Quentin to force in the go-ahead run.

Headley hit a two-run homer in the first to give Smith a 2-0 lead before he threw his first major league pitch.

And the 23-year-old right-hander looked sharp in the first, striking out the first two major league hitters he faced – Matt Joyce and Kelly Johnson – in a perfect inning as his fastball ranged from 94-98 mph.

But his major league debut quickly went from sweet to sour to distasteful. Smith never recorded an out in the second in what turned out to be the second-shortest debut ever by a Padres starting pitcher.

In 1974, Dan Spillner gave up four runs before being pulled from his major league debut after two-thirds of an inning.

Smith’s debut lasted one inning plus seven hitters as he gave up six runs on five hits and two walks. Smith saw his two-run advantage wiped out two hitters into his disastrous second inning on a 420-foot homer to right by former Dodgers first baseman James Loney.

That was only the start of Smith’s problems. Known for his control as well as his fastball, Smith walked two of the first three hitters he faced in the second. He then gave up four straight hits before being pulled by Black.

“Smith was a tale of two different innings,” said Black. “He was sharp in the first. That’s a good arm. His pitches will play well in the major leagues. But in the second, it looked like he couldn’t find the plate and when he did it was in the middle of it.”

“Disappointing,” said Smith. “I was focusing on making pitches. I wanted to get ahead. That’s my game. I didn’t in the second. I gotta come out next time and do better.”

Smith’s best chance at escaping the inning came on the third hit of the streak, a line drive by Yunel Escobar that skipped off the top of the leaping Headley’s glove. Had the third baseman caught the liner, the Padres would have had a double play.

Tyson Ross picked up for Smith and, after giving up a sacrifice fly, held the Rays scoreless on three hits and a walk over four innings.